Abstract: Coal burst, which refers to the violent and catastrophic failure of coal, is a serious safety hazard for underground coalmines. Coal burst has attracted intensive research interest from mining and geological scholars. Due to the shallow mining depth, simple geological condition, advanced mining technology and reasonable geotechnical design, coal bursts has not been identified as a safety hazard in Australia coalmines as there are no documented coal bursts cases in Australia before 2014. However, more recently, the coal burst risk in Australian coalmines was highlighted by coal burst accidents in some coalmines. This paper reviewed the potential energy sources and their influence on past coal burst accidents in Australia. It is believed that the previous coal burst accidents in Australia are more likely to be the dynamic failure of highly stressed coal triggered by small-scale dynamic disturbance. Coal burst propensity index method and micro seismic monitoring technic are recommended to indicate coal burst risk before and during mining activities
